Fan track liner subassembly angled upturn joint

ABSTRACT

A machine having a rotor that is radially bounded at least in part by a containment assembly. The containment assembly may comprise a casing and a containment liner. The casing may have a radially inner surface facing a rotor of the machine. The containment liner may be formed form a plurality of panels bonded to the radially inner surface of the casing. The panels may form joints between adjacent leading and trailing panels relative to the direction of rotation of said rotor. At least one joint includes a portion of a trailing panel positioned radially outboard of a portion of the leading upstream panel.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/277,815, filed Jan. 12, 2016.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is direct to systems and methods for providingcontainment assemblies for rotating machines.

BACKGROUND

Fluid propulsion devices achieve thrust by imparting momentum to a fluidcalled the propellant. An air-breathing engine, as the name implies,uses the atmosphere for most of its propellant. The gas turbine produceshigh-temperature gas which may be used either to generate power for apropeller, fan, generator or other mechanical apparatus or to developthrust directly by the expansion and acceleration of the hot gas in anozzle. In any case, an air breathing engine continuously draws air fromthe atmosphere, compresses it, adds energy in the form of heat, and thenexpands it in order to convert the added energy to shaft work or jetkinetic energy. Thus, in addition to acting as propellant, the air actsas the working fluid in a thermodynamic process in which a portion ofthe energy is made available for propulsive purposes or work.

Typical gas turbine engines include at least two air streams. All airutilized by the engine initially passes through a fan prior to beingsplit into the two or more air streams. The inner air stream is referredto as core air and passes into the compressor portion of the enginewhere it is compressed. The core air then is fed to the combustorportion of the engine where it is mixed with fuel and the fuel iscombusted. The combustion gases are then expanded through the turbineportion of the engine that extracts energy from the hot combustiongases. The extracted energy is used to power the compressor, the fan andother accessory systems. The remaining hot gases then flow into theexhaust portion of the engine and may be used to produce thrust for theaircraft.

The outer air stream (also known as the bypass air stream) bypasses theengine core and is pressurized by the fan. Typically, no other work isdone on the outer air stream as it flows axially in the engine butoutside the core. Downstream of the turbine, the bypass air stream isused to cool engine hardware in the exhaust system. When additionalthrust is required (or demanded), some of the bypass air stream may beredirected to an augmenter (afterburner) where it is mixed with the coreair stream and fuel to provide the additional thrust to the aircraft.Referring to the drawings wherein similar reference numerals denote likeelements throughout the various views, FIG. 1 shows a generalorientation of a turbofan engine in a cut away view. In the turbofanengine shown, the flow of the air is generally axial. The position ofcomponents along the engine axis may be described using the terms“upstream” and “downstream” relative to the direction of airflow.Upstream refers to positions toward the engine inlet and downstreamrefers to positions toward the engine exhaust. Additionally,outward/outboard and inward/inboard refer to a lateral or radialdirection perpendicular to the axial direction. For example, in the gasturbine engine of an aircraft, the bypass duct is outboard of the coreduct. Typically the ducts are generally circular and co-axial.

The ambient inlet airflow 12 enters inlet fan duct 14 of turbofan engine10, through the guide vanes 15, passes by fan spinner 16 and through fanrotor (fan blade) 42. The airflow 12 is split into primary (core) flowstream 28 and bypass flow stream 30 by upstream splitter 24 anddownstream splitter 25. The bypass flow stream 30 along with thecore/primary flow stream 28 is shown, the bypass stream 30 beingoutboard of the core stream 28. The inward portion of the bypass stream30 and the outward portion of the core streams are partially defined bysplitters 24 and 25 upstream of the compressor 26. The fan 42 has aplurality of fan blades.

As shown in FIG. 1 the fan blade 42 shown is rotating about the engineaxis into the page, therefor the low pressure side of the blade 42 isshown, the high pressure side being on the opposite side of the blade.The high pressure and low pressure sides may also be known as theleading and trailing edges of the fan blade 42. The core flow stream 28flows through compressor 26. The compressed air typically passes throughan outlet guide vane to reduce or eliminate swirling motion orturbulence, a diffuser where air spreads out, and a compressor manifoldto distribute the air in a smooth flow. The core flow stream 28 is thenmixed with fuel in combustion chamber 35 and the mixture is ignited andburned. The resultant combustion products flow through turbines 38 thatextract energy from the combustion gases to turn fan rotor 42,compressor 26 and provide any shaft work by way of a turbine shaft. Thegases, passing an exhaust cone, expand through an exhaust nozzle 43 toproduce thrust. The core flow stream 28 leaves the engine at a highervelocity than when it entered. The bypass flow stream 30 flows throughfan rotor 42, flows by bypass duct outer wall 27 (an annular ductconcentric with the core engine), flows through a fan discharge outletand is expanded through an exhaust nozzle to produce additional thrust.Turbofan engine 10 has a generally longitudinally extending centerlinerepresented by engine axis 46.

The fan 42 generates a significant portion of the propulsive force forthe turbofan engine 10. The fan 42 is large, composed of many attachedfan blades and may rotate at high speeds to produce thrust. While thelikelihood of a failure of one or more blades during operation is low,the consequences of a part of or a whole fan blade being thrown from afan rotor during flight could lead catastrophic consequences for vitalplane systems and passengers. To lessen the risks presented by a lostfan blade, turbine engines may use a containment system to capture anyloose blades and absorb the energy from their impact. Such containmentsystems are particularly important in applications which use a compositecontainment case because composite material may be much more easily cutby a loose fan blade than a metal containment case.

A detailed illustration of a containment assembly of a turbine engine isshown in FIG. 2. The assembly 200 comprises a casing 202, a fan trackliner 204, rotor 290, centerline axis 246, engine interface 208 and fan242 (shown as a single fan blade). The fan blades 242 are attached torotor 290 which spins about the centerline axis of the engine 246. Thefan 242 spins into the page, as shown by arrow 216, compressing theincoming airstream 212.

Casing 202 provides support for the fan track liner 204 and may beconnected to engine interface 208 via bolts 206 or other connectionmeans. The casing 202 may be made of metal, composite, or a combinationof the two materials. The casing 202 may be referred to as afan-containment case. Composite materials are advantageous over metalcasings in that they can support normal operating engine loads atgreatly reduced weights. However, composite materials may be moresusceptible to being damaged by, for example, a thrown fan blade than ametal containment case.

Due to this susceptibility to damage to casing 202, a fan track liner204 is attached to the inner (inboard) radial wall of the casing 202 toabsorb and redistribute the impact energy of a thrown blade, therebyavoiding localization of energy which would otherwise have been impartedonto the casing 202. A typical energy-absorbing fan track linercomprises a multilayer honeycomb and facesheet design which may bedesigned to fail in a staged sequence in order to protect the casing202. The fan tracker liner 204 may be comprised of a plurality ofsubassemblies 318, for example, between five and eight, arrangedradially outward from and circumferentially around the fan 242 as seenin FIG. 3. The liner 204 may extend axially forward and aft of thefurthest upstream and downstream parts, respectively, of the fan bladeto accommodate any axial movement of a blade after becoming loose fromthe fan. The fan track liner 204 is often bonded to the inner radialwall of the casing 202 such that the subassemblies 318 form a joint atwhich there is a discontinuity of energy-absorbing layers.

An axial cross-sectional view of a turbine engine 300 is shown in FIG.3. This cross-section may be taken from a turbine engine such as thatshown in FIG. 1 at section A-A. The engine 300 includes a casing 302, afan track liner 304 and rotor 390. The casing 302 and fan track liner304 may be commonly referred to as a containment assembly 322. The rotorspins in a counter-clockwise direction about the centerline axis 346 asshown by arrow 316. A fan is not shown because the cross-section istaken just forward of the fan. The inlet air flow direction is shown byarrow 312.

The casing 302 circumscribes the rotor 390 and is outboard of the rotor390 and the fan track liner 304. The casing 302 may comprise materialsas described above.

The fan track liner 304 circumscribes the rotor 390 and is inboard ofthe casing 302. The fan tracker liner 304 may comprise a plurality ofsubassemblies 318, also known as panels or crush panels, for example,five or eight subassemblies. The fan track liner is divided intosubassemblies for manufacturing and engine assembly purposes. Thesubassemblies 318 may comprise the materials and construction asdescribed above.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the subassemblies 318 join one other at aseries of joints 320 located circumferentially around the axis 346.These joints 320 are end-to-end butt joints with the joint 320 orientedin the radial direction. A close up of an end-to-end butt joint in acontainment assembly 400 is shown in FIG. 4. The containment assembly422 comprises casing 402 and fan track liner 404, liner 404 comprising aplurality of subassemblies 418. The subassemblies 418 meet at anend-to-end butt joint 420. The fan 442 rotates counterclockwise aroundthe centerline axis (not shown) as indicated by direction arrow 416.Subassemblies 418 may be of a multilayer design comprising facesheet 432and an energy-absorbing layer 434, which may be of a metallic honeycombdesign.

The end-to-end butt joint method of joining the subassemblies 318/418provides a discontinuity in the facesheet and/or honeycomb materialrunning circumferentially around the engine, leading to a sharp drop instiffness at the joint location that can permit the blade to penetrateto deeper layers at the joint. This discontinuity severely impacts thetransfer of blade load across the joint surface, resulting in bladeimpact behavior that differs at the joint 320/420 as opposed to at thecenter of the panels 318/418. Other designs use a perpendicular oradjacent ninety degree upturn joint which may lead to an overly stiffjoint that may concentrate an impact load on a small area of the barrel(or casing) in the vicinity of the joint, thereby potentially causingdamage.

With reference to FIG. 2, the energy-absorbing effectiveness of the fantrack liner 204 is highly correlated to the overall thickness of theliner 204. However, the maximum thickness of the liner is limited byoverall plane design criteria to include engine nacelle sizelimitations, casing 202 load bearing requirements and the size of theengine equipment. Some designs create an “arched” casing 202 in whichthe casing inner wall proximate to the fan track liner section is pushedoutwardly. While such a design allows for thicker fan track liners, thiscasing must be formed by fusing at least two separate components becausethe entire arched-design casing cannot be removed from the mandrelaround which it is modeled without cutting the casing or destroying themandrel. A casing formed by fusing two separate sections is inherentlyweaker than a casing formed from continuous plies.

As disclosed in some embodiments herein the current subject matteraddresses these deficiencies by utilizing an angled upturn joint betweenadjoining subassemblies (or panels) of a fan track liner. The angledupturn joint allows smooth transition of a crushing load from a leadingsubassembly panel to the energy absorbing layers of a trailingsubassembly panel to which the leading subassembly panel is joined. Theangled upturn joint further mitigates damage to the casing to which thesubassemblies are attached when compared to joining methods which createlarge discontinuities in stiffness at the joints. The use of an angledupturn joint also permits co-curing of the septum resin and theenergy-absorbing layer adhesive, thereby enabling a certain amount ofconsolidation of the inner septum at the angled upturn joint.

The disclosed subject matter in accordance with some embodiments alsoaddresses the limitations on fan track liner thickness and two-partcasings by embedding a layer of the fan track liner within the layup ofthe casing. This creates a containment casing have an embeddedcontainment core. The load carrying fibers of the containment casinghaving an embedded core may be pushed to the outboard side of thecasing. The inner fibers, or plies, effectively serve as a load transferseptum between the energy-absorbing layers of the fan tracker linerbonded to the inner radial surface of the containment casing having theembedded energy absorbing layer, and may replace the bespokeintermediate glass septum used in other applications. This may maximizethe thickness of the impact energy absorbing fan track liner, and maytake advantage of additive manufacturing methods of composite componentfabrication by including the layer of energy-absorbing honeycomb intothe composite layup. Some embodiments may include either aramid fiber ormetallic honeycomb.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a machinehaving a containment assembly is provided. The machine may have a rotorwhich is at least partially bounded by the containment assembly. Thecontainment assembly comprises a casing and a containment liner. Thecasing may have a radially inner surface facing the rotor. Thecontainment liner may be formed from a plurality of panels bonded to theradially inner surface of the casing. The panels may form joints betweenadjacent leading and trailing panels relative to the direction of therotation of the rotor. At least one of the joints includes a portion ofa trailing panel position radially outboard of a portion of the leadingupstream panel.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a turbineengine having a containment assembly is provided. The turbine engine mayhave a fan that is radially bounded at least in part by the containmentassembly. The containment assembly comprises a casing and a fan trackliner. The casing may have a radially inner surface facing the fan. Thefan track liner may be formed from a plurality of panels bonded to theradially inner surface of the casing. The panels may form joints betweenadjacent leading and trailing panels relative to the direction of therotation of the fan. At least one joint includes a portion of a trailingpanel positioned radially outside of a portion of the leading upstreampanel. The joint may be formed from a continuous joint surface of saidleading panel and a continuous joint surface of the trailing panel.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, arotating machine having a containment assembly is provided. The rotatingmachine may have at least a portion bounded by the containment assembly.The containment assembly may comprise a casing and a plurality ofcontainment liners. The casing may have a radially inner surface. One ofthe containment liners may be bonded to the radially inner surface ofthe casing and at least one liner may be bounded to and radially inboardof the liner bonded to the casing. Each of the liners may comprise aplurality of subassemblies. Each pair of adjacent subassemblies may forma joint wherein at least a portion of a trailing subassembly ispositioned radially outward of a portion of said leading subassembly.

These and many other advantages of the present subject matter will bereadily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the disclosurepertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and thefollowing detailed description of preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an illustration representing conventional turbofan engines.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a close-up, axial view of a fan containmentassembly.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a fan containment assembly.

FIG. 4 is an close-up, cross-sectional view of a fan containmentassembly.

FIG. 5 is an close-up, cross-sectional view of a fan containmentassembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a fan containment assembly accordingto some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 7A-7E are illustrations of various embodiments of subassemblyjoints in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8A is an illustration of an axial cutaway of a fan containmentassembly according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8B is an illustration of a close-up of an axial cutaway of aportion of a fan containment assembly according to some embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a method of manufacturing a containmentcasing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, a fancontainment assembly 500 is presented as shown in the cross-sectionalview of FIG. 5. The assembly comprises a casing 502, a fan track liner504 (which may also be referred to as a containment liner) formed of aplurality of subassemblies, or panels, 518. The subassemblies 518 arebonded to a radially inner surface of the casing 502. The casing 502 andthe panels 518 may be collectively referred to as a containment assembly522. The containment assembly 522 radially bounds at least a portion ofa rotor (not shown) to which the blades of fan 542 are attached. Joints,such as joint 520, are formed between adjacent panels 518. Forreference, the direction of the rotor is defined by arrow 516.

The joint 520 is defined by surfaces of two adjoining panels. Beinglocated upstream (in the rotational direction 516 of fan 542) of panel554, panel 552 may be referred to as the leading and/or upstream panel.Panel 554 may be referred to as the downstream or trailing panel beinglocated downstream, in the rotational direction 516 of fan 542, of panel552.

In some embodiments, the surfaces 556, 558 define the joint 520.Surfaces 556 and 558 may be referred to as a joint surfaces. Eachsurface 556, 558 forms the circumferential end of panel 552, 554,respectively, and may axially extend along the rotor (not shown) for allor a portion of the axial width of the fan track liner 504. The surfaces556, 558 may be continuous in that any changes to the surface shape aresmooth. The particular shape of a joint surface may comprises othershapes than that shown in FIG. 5. Examples of possible joint surfaceshapes may be seen in FIGS. 7A-7E.

The joint 520 may also be defined by the relative radial position of thepanels 552 and 554 and their respective joint surfaces. As shown in FIG.5, joint 520 includes at least a portion of trailing panel 554 which ispositioned radially outboard of at least a portion of panel 552, givingjoint 520 an angled, upturn design. This arrangement of the panels 552and 554 improves the load transfer behavior of the fan track liner 504and nearly replicates the impact performance of a jointless fan trackliner. In the event of an impact at the location of joint 520, theangled upturn design of joint 520 permits a smooth circumferential loadtransfer between panels 552 and 554. Transferring loads between panelsis a critical function for the fan tracker liner, particularly forcontainment assemblies comprising a composite fan case, because theliner serves as an energy absorbing and distribution mechanism whichprotects the case from localized damage.

A joint designed like joint 520 avoids the stiffness discontinuitiesassociated with other joint designs which could damage the casing 502.Further, joint 520 prevents or minimizes the likelihood that aprojectile blade could penetrate deeper into the energy-absorbinglayer(s) of the subassemblies or dig underneath the adjacent, downstreampanel. Additionally, use of the angled upturn joint 520 allows the panelseptum and honeycomb adhesive material to be co-cured at the jointsurface.

The panels or subassemblies 552 and 554 of the liner 504 may comprise amultilayer design. For example, a panel may comprise an radially innerfacesheet facing the fan 542, a radially outer facesheet bonded to aninner radial surface of casing 502, and an energy-absorbing layer 534.The multilayer design may comprise a greater or fewer number offacesheets and more than one energy absorbing layer. The energyabsorbing layer 534 may comprise a metallic honeycomb or other design.The facesheets may comprise a composite material which may includeunidirectional tape, automated fiber placement, woven or braidedmaterials. The composite material may comprise carbon.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, across-sectional view of fan containment assembly 600 is presented inFIG. 6. The assembly 600 comprises casing 602 and fan track liner 604.The fan track liner comprises a plurality of subassemblies or panels 618bonded to a radially inner surface of the casing 602. Both the casing602 and liner 604 are located radially outboard of a rotor 690 to whicha fan (not shown) may be fixed. Casing 602 and liner 604 may be referredto as a containment assembly 622. The rotor 690 rotates in the direction616 about axis 646. The panels 618 may each be constructed as describedabove. The panels 618 may form joints 620 which are of an angled upturndesign defined by two adjoining, continuous surfaces. The direction ofairflow is shown by 612.

Casing 602 may comprise a composite material and further define agenerally cylindrical opening. In some embodiments the cross sectionalarea of the fan case 602 may be oval to provide a greater distancebetween the casing 602 and the fan (not shown) it bounds. This may allowthe use of additional layers for the liner 604, or use of thicker layersin some areas to provide additional protection against blade fragments.For example, thicker liners could be used on the radially inner wall ofthe casing 602 which faces the plane fuselage or other areas. In someembodiments the casing 602 may comprise a cylindrical opening in whichthe turbine fan rotates.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, acontainment assembly having a casing and an embedded containment core ispresented. The casing may be a fan containment case of a turbine engineand the core may be an energy-absorbing layer. A cross-section of acontainment casing having an embedded containment core is illustrated inFIG. 8A and FIG. 8B. The containment assembly 800 may comprise a casing802 and a fan track liner 804. The assembly 800 radially bounds a rotor(not shown) to which fan blades 842 are attached. The fan blades 842 androtor rotate in direction 816. The assembly 800 may be attached to theengine 808 via bolts 806 or other attachment mechanism. Air flows intothe fan 842 from left to right as indicated by direction 812.

The casing 802 may have a radially inner surface 844 facing the rotor,an inner casing member 848 (see FIG. 8B) formed from a compositematerial positioned between the inner surface 844 and an embedded core836, and an outer casing member 850 formed from composite materialpositioned outboard of the core 836. The casing 802 has a first andsecond end located at the axial extremes of the casing. These ends mayform attachment flanges through which bolts 806 are placed to secure thecasing 802 to the rest of the engine.

The outer casing member 850 may be formed multiple plies of compositematerials as shown in FIG. 8B. In some embodiments, the attachmentflanges are also formed from the same continuous plies of compositematerial from which the outer casing member 850 is composed. These pilesform a rigid backbone of the fan case running between the first andsecond end. This “backbone” is preferably placed outboard of any energyabsorbing layers to minimize the likelihood of damage to it from anyblade impact.

In some embodiments the inner casing member 848 may also be formed fromcontinuous plies of composite materials. However, these inner plies mayterminate short of the first and second ends and/or the attachmentflanges interface location because the inner casing member 848 is notintended to carry the load of an impact. Rather, the inner casing member848 may serve only as a load-transfer septum between adjacentenergy-absorbing layers. The inner and outer casing members 848, 850 maycomprise prepreg carbon composite material constructed usingunidirectional tape, automated fiber placement, woven or braidedmaterial. The inner and outer casings also encapsulate the embeddedcore, fully sealing it from water ingress.

The embedded core 836 may be disposed between the inner and outer casingmembers 848, 850 and may be an energy-absorbing layer as describedabove.

In accordance some embodiments of the present disclosure, the innercasing member 848, outer casing member 850 and embedded core 836 areformed on a mandrel and cured as a unitary structure. The inner surface844 and the outer casing member 850 may be formed together such thatthey define a continuous cylindrical or generally cylindrical opening inwhich the fan 842 rotates. By forming these components together, theunitary containment casing can be easily removed from the moldingmandrel unlike a crowned or converging-diverging cross sectioncontainment case. Forming the casing, particularly the outer casingmember 850, with continuous, uninterrupted piles provides a lighter andstronger casing 802.

A method 900 of making a containment assembly for radially bounding arotor in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure ispresented. The method, as shown in FIG. 9, comprises forming a casing ona mandrel (block 902), curing the casing (block 904) and removing thecasing from the mandrel (block 906). The casing may be formed by formingan inner casing member on the surface of a mandrel (block 902A),positioning a containment core on the outer surface of the inner casingmember (block 902B) and forming an outer casing member thereby embeddingthe core between the inner and outer casing members (block 902C). Anadditional containment liner, which may be a fan track liner, may bebonded to a radially inner surface of the casing (block 908).

While some of the above embodiments have been provided in the context ofa turbine engine, it will be understood that the above embodimentsdisclose improvements to containment apparatuses used in any rotatingmachine. While preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have beendescribed, it is to be understood that the embodiments described areillustrative only and that the scope of the disclosure is to be definedsolely by the appended claims when accorded a full range of equivalence,many variations and modifications naturally occurring to those of skillin the art from a perusal hereof.

I claim:
 1. A machine having a rotor radially bounded at least in partby a containment assembly, the containment assembly comprising: a casinghaving a radially inner surface facing the rotor; and a containmentliner formed from a plurality of panels, including a first panel, asecond panel adjacent to and upstream of said first panel, and a thirdpanel adjacent to and downstream of said first panel, bonded to theradially inner surface of said casing forming a respective one of aplurality of joints between a respective leading panel and a respectivetrailing panel relative to a direction of rotation of said rotor,wherein each of the panels includes a leading side, a trailing side, aradially outer side, and a radially inner side, the leading sideopposite of the trailing side, and the radially outer side opposite theradially inner side, wherein the radially outer side and the radiallyinner side each extend from the trailing side to the leading side,wherein the radially outer side and the radially inner side are eachlonger in length than the trailing side and the leading side, whereinthe radially outer side of each of the panels is bonded to the radiallyinner surface of the casing, and the radially inner side of each of thepanels faces the rotor, wherein the trailing side of the respectiveleading panel faces the leading side of the respective trailing panelsuch that the respective one of the plurality of joints is formedbetween the leading side of the respective trailing panel and thetrailing side of the respective leading panel, wherein the plurality ofjoints includes a first joint and a second joint, wherein the respectiveleading panel and the respective trailing panel are adjacent to eachother, including the first joint formed between said first and secondpanels, and the second joint formed between said first and third panels,wherein each of said first joint and said second joint includes aportion of the respective trailing panel positioned radially outside ofand overlapping a portion of the respective leading upstream panel. 2.The assembly of claim 1, wherein an angle measured between a side of atleast one of said first joint and said second joint and a radial vectoris 45 degrees.
 3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said radially innersurface of said casing defines a generally cylindrical opening.
 4. Theassembly of claim 1, wherein said radially inner surface of said casingdefines a cylindrical opening.
 5. The assembly of claim 1, wherein saidpanels comprise a facesheet and an energy absorbing layer, wherein thefacesheet extends over the respective leading side and the respectivetrailing side.
 6. The assembly of claim 5, wherein said energy absorbinglayer is of a metallic honeycomb design.
 7. The assembly of claim 5,wherein said facesheet comprises a composite material selected from thegroup consisting of unidirectional tape, automated fiber placement,woven and braided material.
 8. The assembly of claim 7, wherein saidcomposite material comprises carbon.
 9. The assembly of claim 5, whereinsaid panels further comprise an adhesive that adheres a septum and ahoneycomb co-cured at the first joint, at the second joint, or at boththe first joint and the second joint, wherein the trailing side of therespective leading panel of the respective first or second joint and theleading side of the respective trailing panel of the respective first orsecond joint are not in direct contact.
 10. The assembly of claim 1,wherein said casing comprises a composite material.
 11. The assembly ofclaim 1, wherein said machine is a turbine.
 12. The assembly of claim11, wherein said containment assembly radially bounds a fan.
 13. Theassembly of claim 11, wherein said containment liner is a fan trackliner.
 14. A turbine engine having a fan radially bounded at least inpart by a containment assembly, the containment assembly comprising: acasing having a radially inner surface facing said fan; and a fan trackliner formed from a plurality of panels bonded to the radially innersurface of said casing forming a respective one of a plurality of jointsbetween a respective leading panel and a respective trailing panelrelative to a direction of rotation of said fan, wherein each of thepanels includes a leading side, a trailing side, a radially outer side,and a radially inner side, the leading side opposite of the trailingside, and the radially outer side opposite the radially inner side,wherein the radially outer side and the radially inner side each extendfrom the trailing side to the leading side, wherein the radially outerside and the radially inner side are each longer in length than thetrailing side and the leading side, wherein the radially outer side ofeach of the panels is bonded to the radially inner surface of thecasing, and the radially inner side of each of the panels faces the fan,wherein the trailing side of the respective leading panel faces theleading side of the respective trailing panel such that the respectiveone of the plurality of joints is formed between the leading side of therespective trailing panel and the trailing side of the respectiveleading panel, wherein the respective leading panel and the respectivetrailing panel are adjacent to each other, wherein each of said jointsincludes a portion of the respective trailing panel positioned radiallyoutside of and overlapping a portion of the respective leading upstreampanel, and wherein each of said joints is formed by the trailing side ofsaid respective leading panel and the leading side of said respectivetrailing panel.
 15. The turbine engine of claim 14, wherein the trailingside of said respective leading panel is concave.
 16. The turbine engineof claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the trailing side of saidrespective leading panel is convex.
 17. The turbine engine of claim 16,wherein at least a portion of the trailing side of said respectiveleading panel is concave.
 18. The turbine engine of claim 14, whereinsaid radially inner surface of said casing defines an oval opening. 19.A rotating machine having a rotor, wherein at least a portion of themachine is bounded by a containment assembly, said containment assemblycomprising: a casing having a radially inner surface; and a plurality ofcontainment liners, wherein one of said containment liners is bonded tothe radially inner surface of said casing and said one of saidcontainment liners comprises a radially inner surface, and at least oneadditional liner comprising a radially outer surface, wherein saidradially outer surface of said at least one additional liner is bondedto and in contact with said radially inner surface of said one of saidcontainment liners wherein each of said containment liners comprises aplurality of subassemblies, each pair of circumferentially adjacentsubassemblies forming a joint, wherein at least a portion of arespective trailing subassembly is positioned radially outward of aportion of a respective leading subassembly, wherein each of thesubassemblies includes a leading side, a trailing side, a radially outerside, and a radially inner side, the leading side opposite of thetrailing side, and the radially outer side opposite the radially innerside, wherein the radially outer side and the radially inner side eachextend from the trailing side to the leading side, wherein the radiallyouter side and the radially inner side are each longer in length thanthe trailing side and the leading side, wherein the radially outer sideof each of the subassemblies is bonded to the radially inner surface ofthe casing, and the radially inner side of each of the subassembliesfaces the rotor, wherein the trailing side of the respective leadingsubassembly faces the leading side of the respective trailingsubassembly such that the joint is formed between the leading side ofthe respective subassembly and the trailing side of the respectiveleading subassembly.